o class of buildings engage the interest of so many different minds as the castle. The castle was built for defence as well as for a dwelling-place; while the palace, generally speaking, is the abode of monarchs or nobles; and as both have been the scene of plots, imprisonments, murders, entertainments, marriages, births and deaths, their walls enclose innumerable memories of history and legend.

As the most brilliant displays of human pleasure and the blackest manifestations of human conduct have occurred in their halls, towers and dungeons, the phantoms of the most striking characters in history hover amid their crumbling and ivy-clad stones.

Great European Medieval Castles to visit:

	Windsor Castle - Windsor, England Windsor castle was built around 1070 by William the Conqueror.
	Loevestein Castle - Poederoijen, Holland Loevestein castle was built in 1366 and was named after its founder Dirk Loef van Horne.
	Muiderslot Castle - Muiden, Holland The Muiderslot castle was built in the year 1280 by count Floris the 5th.
	Ducal Palace - Venice, Italy The Doge's Palace was built between 1309 - 1424 on 9th century origins by the architect Marino Faliero.
	Palazzo Vecchio - Florence, Italy Palazzo Vecchio was built at the end of the 12th century by the architect Arnolfo di Cambio.
	Warwick Castle - Warwick, England The Warwick Castle was built in 914 by Ethelfleda, daughter of king Alfred the Great.